Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Attacks by resistance fighters are escalating again across Iraq, as violence returns to the levels seen before January, 2005.

Two US soldiers were killed Tuesday evening in a sucicide car bomb attack in Baghdad, the military said. Six died and 44 were wounded outside an Iraqi army recruitment center. Four Iraqi soldiers were also killed in an attack Tuesday against an army patrol in Khalidiyah, west of the capital. At least two Iraqis were killed in three more blasts in the capital on Wednesday.

Rebels are mounting large scale raids against police stations, such as one in the northern city of Mosul on Monday when a 50-strong group unsuccessfully tried to overrun local police.

Marines in Husaybah, Western Iraq have been forced to hunker down in defensive positions. They primarily mount counterattacks after assaults on the camp.

"We're facing a well-developed, mature insurgency with the support of the local population" of about 100,000 townspeople, Marine Maj. John Reed says. "There is no Iraqi security force here. They are not effective. There are no police. They are dead or doing something else."